--- Forwarded Message from "Atkinson, Laura" <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Subject: RE: #6397.15 Course Management Technology(!)
>Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 14:39:11 -0500
>Thread-Topic: #6397.15 Course Management Technology(!)
>Thread-Index: AcF43LBc01uRVAehQf2gzv4ptlsspAABvU3A
>From: "Atkinson, Laura" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum" <[log in to unmask]>
------------------
I very much agree. WebCT does have a somewhat high learning curve, but
that is because it is such a powerful program. If you ponder the
constraints of an html environment, it becomes clearer how amazing WebCT
is.
Please visit our WebCT site for more information:
http://www.winthrop.edu/webct
It is undergoing a few finishing tweaks here and there but is for the
most part ready.
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Laura Atkinson
Instructional Technology Specialist
214A Kinard
Winthrop University
[log in to unmask]
(803) 323-2178
-----Original Message-----
From: LLTI-Editor [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 8:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: #6397.15 Course Management Technology(!)
--- Forwarded Message from [log in to unmask] ---
>Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 13:23:41 -0500
>From: [log in to unmask]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: #6397 Course Management Technology(!)
------------------
Hello all,
I have been using WebCT at SMU for over two years, and have developed a
variety of web-enhancement activities for more than a dozen foreign
language courses. The most extensive one is beginning French, a
two-semester sequence with graded homework online five days a week.
I haven't worked with Blackboard, because my institution has WebCT; but
I'm told that Blackboard doesn't have the quiz capabilities of WebCT.
About diacriticals: We have developed a way for the user to write
accents from any platform. It's a ("simple") Javascript with a keypad in
a table, and it works on any webpage. We use it principally in WebCT
quizzes, and it has been working flawlessly for two years.. My husband
wrote the script and would be happy to share it with anyone interested,
at no charge (you just have to run the credit ). To get it, you can
contact Thain Marston offlist : [log in to unmask] and he'll email it to
you.
About WebCT: To my knowledge, WebCT is indeed "clunky and
counterintuitive". That being said, the next question should be,
"...compared to -- what?"). WebCT has a powerful quiz engine, and I
don't know of anything that touches it. It is _not_ "simple" but it is
powerful and it does provide a way for exercises to be graded online
and for the students to get immediate feedback. Some home-brew systems
can probably do what WebCT does, but the cost of developing such a tool
is truly untold. After making nearly 500 WebCT quizzes, I have made most
of the mistakes one can make at least once or twice, and I have learned
to make it sing. Students generally like doing their homework online
because they do find out whether they are correct (and you can set it up
so that questions are presented randomly and students can take a quiz
more than once for the highest grade).
If you want an overview of some of the things we have done in the
beginning French course, we have a showcase on the web at
http://fllc.smu.edu/french/webct/index.html
for a QuickTime movie of a WebCT quiz sample, look at
http://fllc.smu.edu/french/webct/FRENCH1401/FrontPage/devoirs1.html#TOP
Let me know if you have any questions about this or my experience with
WebCT. I'll be happy to go on about it.
Jan
Jan Marston, Ph.D.
Director, Foreign Language Teaching Technology Center
234 Clements Hall
Southern Methodist University
Dallas TX 75275
214-768-1691
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